Ellie has been intrigued by the recent operation performed by the vet on the two kittens… Tricia and I variously described the operation on the cats as being ‘nadgered’. Male cat castration is necessary for a number of reasons, not just avoiding an over population of cats. Tricia was trying to explain what had happened… and Ellie considered the explanation and then asked … so, has he had his balls cut off ? Well, you can always rely on a youngster to get to the root of the matter !

I managed to pick up Nikki this evening. As she is not at her uni home for a few weeks now, and the house she lives in will be unoccupied over the Xmas period, we have brought a lot of her possessions home, rather than leave them for a burglar to have. Nikki is all excited, not just because its Christmas, but also because she is going to New York with Tricia next week. Me, erm, well I will be at home with Robbie and Ellie.

I had been getting some judder/echo on the car this last week when driving, so went to Kwik Fit for a look see, and ended up with four new tyres on the car this morning…. I suppose at least I have maximum tread in the bad weather. And the problem has been solved. I also got a wing mirror glass replaced, after somebody clipped the wing mirror. So, the car is feeling better about itself.

The last time I remember snow before Christmas … 1981. 28 years ago, and on the walk back from midnight mass, Dad took a tumble. I also recall a white christmas in 1970, when it snowed on Christmas Eve. I told my brother Steve, who excitedly got out of bed to look, and fell and hurt himself… apparantly this created chaos downstairs as all FC’s presents were being sorted out and had to be hurriedly hidden. Kids.. don’t you just love us.